Happy Birthday Ed

I can't believe you are one already. Where has the time gone? It was when your brother turned one that we decided to try for you. From the start you showed your cooperative nature by suprising us with your conception within a month. And there you grew, safe inside, under my heart and already so loved. My pregnancy was easy, I was hardly sick at all, but how I grew. I was huge. I was so sick and tired of people joking that the scan had missed one, that there must have been two in there. That you were going to be a giant. I had heard it all before, when I was pregnant with your brother, so I didn't believe that you were going to be big. I was wrong.

After the horrendous induction process with your brother, I decided that you were going to come into the world on your own steam. But when you still hadn't entered the world after 40 weeks, I enlisted the help of the beautiful Corinne to get you moving. Anything to avoid a medical induction. So after some lovely acupuncture that sent you wiggling around, I had some mild dragging pain that lasted the rest of the day. It turned into proper contractions at around 8.30 that night. You were on your way and I had gone into labour on my own, something that was a brand new experience for me.

At 1am we decided that it was time for hospital, but were sent home again because I was only 2cm dilated. Only 2cm! How on earth was I supposed to get to 10cm? So your dad went to bed, but I was in too much pain to sleep, and the sleeping tablets they had given me didn't work. So I paced around, trying not to wake anyone and ended up in the bath for four hours. At 6am I couldn't stand it anymore, so we went back into the hospital. I was 4cm dilated and admitted.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. At around 4.30pm I was 6cm and my waters were broken. The midwife told me they were like kangaroo hide, and there was no way they would have broken until you were born. A monitor was placed on your head to check your heartrate. All of a sudden, everything was accelerated, within half an hour, I was 9.5cm, the midwives could see your head and that's when everything changed. There were no contractions, no breaks, just pain. I started screaming, but didn't realise I was doing it. The room was full of people very quickly, but the only face I could focus on was your dads. He was getting upset seeing me like that, so turned away with midwives comforting him. My uterus was begining to rupture, opening up along the old scar from where your brother was born. It was time to get you out, and quickly.

So off to surgery we went. It's a blur of strange faces, blue scrubs and white ceilings. Lots of noise, but that was coming from me. Four people to hold me still while a new epidural was placed in my spine (the fourth attempt). True to form, your heartrate never changed. Through all the drama, you were calm, the eye of the storm. On the table, curtain up, your dad squeezing my hand. In the light above me, I could see the reflection of the surgeons working, so I concentrated on watching them get you out. And then, there you were. All white, wrinkled and concertinaed, like an accordian squeezed shut. They held you in the air and your limbs started to unravel and you cried, an amazing sound that every new parent holds their breath to hear. You had arrived. And they were right, you were a whopping 4kg. A whole kg heavier than your brother at birth.

Your father took you away, out to meet your very worried grandparents, while I was stitched up. And when I was wheeled into recovery, you had the biggest feed ever. We laid there for over an hour and a half while you suckled away, knowing exactly what to do. And you were big and warm and perfect and mine.

You were such a calm, content baby. A pleasure. Everyone warned me that because your brother had been easy going, that you would be hell on legs. But we proved them wrong, you were even easier. Our happy little slug.

Happy Birthday Eddie. We love you with all our hearts.

Maternity and Newborn photos by Alicia at Savvy Studios.

Note: I attempted VBAC with Eddie (vaginal birth after caesarean). Obviously it was unsuccessful, but many, many women have successful VBACs. Even though you'd think I'd be upset with the way it turned out, I'm not. I feel really good about Eddie's birth. So much happier than I was with Ollie's birth process. If I was in the same situation again, I would make the same decision. You can read more about VBAC here.